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Times Advocate, 1997-10-01, Page 3_IN THE NEWS Exeter in bloom over weekend The town hosted both the Ontario Communities In Bloom awards and the Ontario Small Urban Municipalities fall executive meeting By Craig Bradford T -A Reporter EXETER - Exeter had a chance to show itself off while hosting the - '97 Ontario Communities in Bloom awards on. Saturday. While not competing in this year's competition, it was Exeter's turn to host the event along with the Ontario Small Urban Mu- nicipalities fall executive meeting. About 90 people from throughout Ontario descended upon Exeter for the two events, Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle said. Nineteen communities in six categories based upon pop- ,. ulation competed in Communities In Bloom with Oshawa and Kitch ener (100,000-300,000 population category) leading with five -blooms each, the highest provincial bloom rating awarded. Goderich, the coin- ' munity in the competition closest to Exeter, came away with a four bloom rating. Mickle said Exeter came in sec- ond in the national program three years ago. It is up to each mu- nicipality's council to decide whether they have the flower pow- er to enter the . competition (and whether it wants to pay the en- trance fee). - Association of Municipalities of Ontario president Michael Power, who is also the mayor of Geraldton (located three hours north of Thun- der Bay), said Exeter is "an ex- tremely attractive community." "I see a -great deal of pride in homes and the downtown," Pow- • er said, adding it is a "great boon" for Exet- er to host the Communities in Bloom awards ceremonies. Ontario Communities In Bloom co -chairperson Ted Blowes (also the national ' In Bloom , vice - chairperson and former mayor of Stratford) said the two events bring people , who wouldn't normally "The p downto just ou have reason to visit Exeter to the .town; "It showcases'the beauty of Exet- er," '.Qlowes said. "The planters downtown are just out of this world." If Exeter competed in. Com- munities In Bloom, it would've been up 'against these communities in the 1500-5,0X) population cat- egory: Elora ;tnd Deep River with five -blooms each, Walkerton with tour, ,Napancc with three and .Colborne with two. Am- hcrsiburg joined Goderich with four blooms each in the .5,000-10,000 cat- egory while Perth:, Carlton . Place and Renfrew all garnered three each. Leamington won four blooms to top the 10,000-20,000 category while Belleville and Kanata took four each as the only entrants in the 20,000-50,000 and 50,000-100,0(0 categories respectively. banters wn are tofthis world." Rower power. Association of Municipalities of Ontario president Michael"Power (also the 'may or of. Geraldton, located three hoursnorth of- Thunder • Bay), left, Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle and - Communities in Bloom Ontario co -chairperson (and national vice -chairperson) Ted Blowes ,talk shop outside the Exeter Fire Hall on Saturday. Power and Blowes, (a' former• mayor of . Strat- ford) with about 90 other municipal representatives from throughout Ontario were in Ex- eter on the weekend for the '97 Ontario .Communities in Bloom awards and the Ontario Small - Urban Municipalities fall executive meeting: - Lucan sewer work may be dashed By Craig Bradford TA Reporter LU,CAN - The future of the pro- posed extension of the village sew- er system into Biddulph Township is now in the hands rof affected property owners. Both Lucan and Biddulph coun- cils have decided they cannot front the money for the $37,300 project (an estimate contained in Dillon Consulting Ltd.'s Bill Boussey study) that will piggyback with planned Main Street resurfacing and watermain extension work. The road resurfacing, watermain and sewer work together will cost an es- timated $93,800 to $102,400 plus the $9;500 engineering report and $900 disbursement budget. Herdonjoe's Herman Lansink, the owner of the Donut Delite prop- erty to the north of the Lucan/ Biddulph line at Saintshury Line. would not comment on the issue. - The property owners to the south of Saintshury Line, Clarke's Food Mart and C.H. Lewis Ltd., will be asked to chipin their frontage share of the project so Biddulph can hook up to Lucan's sewage system and treatment plant. if Clarke's Food Mart operator Martin Clarke and Cecil Lewis say they don't want or can't put up the money. the project will stop at the Lucan-Biddulph line; if Lansink says no, the entire project is off. "If they're not interested the pro- ject's dead in the water," ad- ministrator Ron Rcymer said dur- ing a recent council meeting. Clarke was. surprised when the Times Advocate contacted him about the proposed project. "Someone will have to come to me with the numbers before 1 can comment," he said. - When asked if he.likes the idea of hooking up to Lucan's sewer sys- tem and discarding his septic sys- tem,Clarke said "it sounds fan- tastic" but not if he has to put op thousands of dollars to make the project possible. He added his sep- tic tank works.well. Lewis, the owner of 30 acres of land on the south side of Saintshury who leases to Suny's gas station, Ron Peter's- Auto Service and a heavy equipment repair shop, was less optimistic about the project. "Many of the residents beyond us arc upgraded with newer septic tank systems," he . said. meaning they may not want to pay to hook up to the sewer line. He added hooking up to the sewer system is more attractive to Clarke and Lan• sink because their septic systems didn't have the capacity when their businesses started up or expanded. Lewis, a Former Lucan reeve for five years in the '50s, said if the township is looking for develop- ment on his land in the next few years, the sewer Zinc extension is needed. if no development is planned. Lewis said the project shouldn't be done. "We are definitely not in favor unless there is an assurance we can recoup some of the money from those (future) properties," he said. "The township should take a good took at the size and cost of the sew- er line." Lewis added he doesn't think. the township plans on any development; on his land for the next 10 years. "Who on cath would want to he taxed more for something that's not nccded," Lewis said. - Biddulph administrator Larry Hotsonsaid council has discussed; though not approved. charging homeowners/busineeses who hook up to the system a fee to recoup costs for !hose who made the'pro- ject possible. The proposed project is -one of two options Dillon Consulting de- signed, for the sewer work. called the 'boulevard route. Ilio other op- tion. named the 'pavement route'. would have the -sewer line running under Main Street and would cost about $51,90) for the sewer work and a total $ I08,400 to; $117,000. The boulevard route that runs just cast of Main Street -is less costly due to less necessary road work and other factors. The boulevard route would also not disrupt the two gas stations in the arca. The work to extend Lucan's wa- termain system through the Main/ Saintsbury corner will cost $31,(X0 to $39,600 plus GST; work to ex- tend it along Saintshury from Main to Wellington St. will cost about $25.500 plus GST. If the property owners balk at paying for the sewer work, council can still go ahead with the watermain and road work. The engineering report rec- ommended council . award tenders on Oct. 6 with work to stars on Oct. d 20 to be done by Nov. 1. n • Times -Advocate; October 1, 1997. Page 3 I can't eat enough. Murphy's Pub held their first wing eating contest on Monday night. John Stacey, Jeff Lindetifield and Ron Sinnamon chow down as fast and as much as they can. They had ohe and a half hours to eat as many wings as their stomach allowed. First place went to Matt Conley. The second place winner was Tedd Hoofman and third place went to Mike Biois. - Strike is possibly getting closer By Kate Monk T -A /Reporter HURON COUNTY - A teacher'. strike is still a ppssihility.. Th province and 'unions 'have no readied an agreement on the Ed «ca(ton at«i Qualiiv, intproventeu Act. /997. ' This afternoon at 4:30 p.m. teachers represented by -the-• four 'teachers unions in Huron County will arrive at •South Huron District High,School. At that time.they,vyill march to Helen 1(ihns' office~ on Main Street in Exeter'. "Our .workinf-conditions are our students' 'learning conditions, ''said Miry Ann Cruickshank. President of the Ontario .Secondary School Teachers Federation District 45. , "We know that next year there will be 25,000 more students con.- ing into the schools. We have to di - s l vide..last year's funding by more e students which effectively de - 1 creases the funding," said Wilhelm. /_ Johns says the "fair funding" of I school `hoards "would he better managed, more accountable tit par- , cnts and taxpayers, and would im- prove student achievement- through - , limiting class size and increasing ,the amount of time students spend. with,their teachers." Westlake said one of : the things teachers areconcerned about are the benefits which students, parents and `,teachers tiave enjoyed which - are now threatened. ' "Things such as crass size and - special needs programs have been H--arrrvu ___at- -osccr=a__Eong period of Helen Johns we will -not hack down to government initiatives which will, bankrupt our public education system - , The act received second reading in the legislature on Tuesday. morn- , ing, according to Alma Westlake, president of the ;Huron Women Teachers Federation. Between the , second and,third readings, the prov- ince will hold public' hearings, like- ly in the same format as the Bill 138 hearings in September. Terry Wilhelm, the president of the Huron -Penh English Catholic Teachers Federation hopes the Min-' isier of Education and Training John Snohelcn will keep talking with the teachers during'the.dehate. "A number of things could trig- ger a strike. He (Snohelcn) has re- moved a few of them. if we can't get some of the bill.changed, then it might/ trigger -a strike," said Wil- helm. • Westlake said a strike cohtinues to he a last resort' but the teachers • have, set out a course of action 'should a need arise. Preparation time continues to be a point of contention which Silo; holcn is proposing to reduce by 50' per cent for secondary school teachers. Wilhelm compares teach- er preparation bent to the time a lawyer takes to prepare a case. "You pay the lawyer for pre- paring the case, which:could take months. Prep time is used by differ- ent teachers for different things. But it's not free time," said Wil- helm. Huron' Member of Provincial Par- liament Helen Johns said in a me- dia release that although ele- mentary teachers have the appropriate teacher/student contact time, high school leachers should be freed up from other tasks to spend more time with their stu- dents. Snohelcn has indicated he is will- ing to deal and has already backed down from starting school a week earlier each fall. Wilhelm doubts Snohelen talked o many farm parents before he backed down. The increased trans- ponalion costs were probably the coding factor in the issue. Another arca of concern in the ew act is the freeze on funding. time through collective bargaining. These benefits are' really threat- ened," said Westlake. - No strike date has . been set and' Wilhelm and Westlake said they did not anticipate a strike ,hap- pening this week. - "We want to have a part in proving learning conditions as_op- posed to having everything dictat- ed. We hope for the very best," concluded Westlake. Not all teachers in the province are as patient as Wilhelm and West- lake. Wilhelm said that at a meet- ' ing in Toronto on Thursday, the mood was militant' and 'some peo- •- ple were in . favor of striking on . Tuesday. 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